Luminar Neo: A First Look

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For those patiently waiting for their copy of Luminar Neo or just wondering if it’s worth it, it’s only a few days way and I have to say it’s worth it. I received an advanced prerelease copy and been using it for a few months. It isn’t perfect but its impressive and will speed up you’re editing in some instances.

Below is my quick review of the remove dust spots and powerlines features. And to help you in your decisions as to why you need this product is need as well as the older version LuminarLuminar AI, I will do a quick break down of features. Make sure to check Skylum for complete details about each software and how to purchase.

Luminar Neo Vs Luminar AI

Both systems are easy to use and doesn’t have the learning curve you need with Photoshop and Lightroom. In fact, they look similar and they share many of the same tools. Both are powerful tools and are good option for those who aren’t using Photoshop.

Luminar AI is more about one click changes. You get smart templates and other tools that make it easy to make changes. They are very powerful and can make it easy to make changes easier. On the other hand, Luminar NEO is more hands on. You get more powerful development tools along with the similar tools you will find with Luminar AI. With these tools you will be able adjust almost everything you can think of.

Couple of additional features you won’t see on Luminar AI or any other software at this time is one click options to remove powerlines and dust spots. You will also get creative AI options that include Relight AI, Sky AI, Atmosphere AI, Sunrays, Dramatic Mood, Toning, Matte, Mystical, Glow, and film grain. Under the Portrait AI options include Portrait Bokeh AI, Face AI, Skin AI, Body AI, and High Key AI. Under Professional Tools you will have Supercontrast and Color Harmony.

My Thoughts on Luminar Neo

It’s annoying that they created another product instead of combing all of their tools into one powerhouse tool or overhaling Luminar AI. But they do offer a bundle option to get Aurora HDR, Luminar AI, and Luminar NEO that makes it a killer deal.

I have a fast system. It’s not the fasted out there but it’s an Alienware m15 R2 and will within the specs for using this software. But it still runs slow. It takes forever to load the images in the catalog. But the processing power is fast. Exporting is average.

Remove Dust Spots

The main reason I wanted Neo is because it can remove dust spots. It’s not perfect but it’s a good start. I use a first-generation Sony a6000, that model is known to have issues with easily getting dirty sensors. With dust removal it takes the first at removing the dust spots. For most images it takes them away on the first try! On the more difficult images I had to go in and do some additional clean up. The eraser tool makes it easy to-do that.

Dust spots use to take forever to clean up and I would have to do all the blending of the sky and clouds to make it look good. During the early the versions of the tool it wasn’t perfect. I still had to go back and do a lot of clean up. On the most recent versions its almost perfect. It only a few spots that it missed. It now takes about 30 seconds to a minute to remove a very spotty image. Before, the cleanup up to an hour or more.

Remove Power Lines

The second reason was the powerline removal. It does a good job at it as well. You will have to go in and do some clean up afterwards. If there is a lot of detail you may not be able to remove the powerlines.

I hate powerlines. I hate removing powerlines even more. They are difficult and time consuming. I almost never remove. But with NEO I try and remove the powerlines and then use the eraser tool to remove power poles. If I can’t remove the pole then I try and leave a little of the line on the pole making it look like the line was cut from the pole.

Final Thoughts

For years I’ve been looking for an all-in-one software solution for image editing and I still haven’t found it. The tools I use include Lightroom for the catalog features, import/export features, meta tags, bulk import/exporting and minor editing including auto straighten image, lens correction and quick spot removals. I then use Aurora HDR to fix lighting issues and bring out the colors that HDR produce without having to stack all those images (you can still stack images), Topaz Labs DeNoise AI to remove noise, Topaz Sharpen AI to sharpen the image, and Luminar AI for everything else. I would love to use Luminar AI for DeNoise and Sharpening but it doesn’t do that well if the image has severe issues. It does a great job at final denoise and sharpening needs. Then I use Luminar NEO to remove dust, powerlines, and use the erase AI features to remove unwanted things from the image.

Learn more about Luminar NEO and purchase the software or any of SKylum’s other tools on their website.